Alaska

Janice and I just returned from a 7 day cruise to Alaska. This time we took a cruise ship rather than our own boat. We might be getting to lazy for that.

The trip started on an exciting note. After we were 2-4 hours out, soon after we were introduced to the emergency alarm and had our lifeboat drill, the alarm sounded again. This time the Captain announced that this was not a drill. There was a fire in one of the boiler rooms. We were assured we weren’t in immediate danger and in a little while it was announced that the fire was out. About 10 minutes later the Captain came on again telling us that the fire re-ignited. This time he didn’t mention that we weren’t in danger but he wasn’t ready to abandon ship. Again they extinguished the fire, but this time the Coast Guard ordered the boat back to its original port (Seattle) to investigate.

We were supposed to be on our way to Juneau but spent the remainder of the day and night on the boat in port. They never did tell us the result of the investigation, i.e. what caused the fire but we left again the next morning. Because we were a day behind schedule they had to eliminate one of the ports we were scheduled to visit (Sitka).

The remainder of the trip was uneventful and quite wonderful. People have asked me if Alaska was as beautiful as they’ve been told. No doubt, Alaska is beautiful but so are a lot of other places we’ve been to. I think I prefer the scenery of the tropics and desert. Did I say Alaska is cold? I’ve included a photo of people on deck in their winter wear.